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A year after President Barack Obama eased restrictions on research into embryonic stem cells and pledged billions in new stimulus money for it, researchers are almost giddy with enthusiasm about progress in the field. They're confident stem cells will treat -- maybe someday cure -- heart disease, diabetes, spinal cord injury and other disorders.

But the excitement is not generated by stem cells harvested from human embryos.

Instead, researchers are coming to believe they can get results almost as good from adult stem cells taken from the patient's own bone marrow or belly fat, and even full-fledged adult cells from muscle tissue or skin.

``Adult stem cells have more flexibility than we thought,'' (translation: we don't want to admit that embryonic stem cells show little to no promise to provide any cures.) says Dr. Joshua Hare, director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami Medical School. ``The embryonic stem cell might not be the most valuable property in actual therapy. When you're treating a heart attack, you might do better with an adult stem cell.''

snip//

``The embryotic stem cell is the prototype, the ultimate stem cell,`` Hare says. ``It has the greatest capacity to become any other type of tissue. It's essential to work with both kinds of stem cells.''

``Embryonic stem cells remain central to our plan,'' says Dr. Camillo Ricordi, who is studying both adult and embryonic stem cells as director of UM's Diabetes Research Institute. ``Everything we've applied to other kinds of cells we learned first by studying embryonic stem cells.''

lunatica Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sun Apr-25-10 11:38 AM
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1. This is exciting news

Patients might carry the very cells that will cure them. How amusing that belly fat might possibly be the cure!

Kdillard (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sun Apr-25-10 11:48 AM
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4. That is amazing news. Hopefully the billions being given thanks to President

Personally, I think that abortion is a very sad and unfortunate event, but if there is an aborted fetus doesn't it make more sense to make lemonade out of lemons and use those stem cells to help cure diseases? Seems like a much better idea than just throwing these fetuses into the local dump.

It's like organ doners, it's unfortunate when they die but at least something good can be gained from it.

Still, I understand the controversy and if adult stem cells are able to be as viable as fetal cells, that would be great news becuse we would have less opposition to funding this research that has the potential to revolutionize health care as we know it.

Kdillard (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sun Apr-25-10 11:48 AM
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4. That is amazing news. Hopefully the billions being given thanks to President

..and yet another liberal lie. The only funding that was cut was from the government seeing as ESC research had yielded nothing. There was no opposition to PRIVATE research in any sense.

Pres. Bush wisely said no TAXPAYER money would go to research that had been a dismal failure. Seems clear cut to me.

I'ma gonna try and beat WWW to the thread jack. It amazes me that so many "scientists" and libs say there is so much potential in ESC, but they aren't willing to pony up their own cash to fund this research. If all these potential cures are in there, the parties willing to invest are going to see thousandfold returns on their investment. Why bother with government grants if it's such a sure bet? Oh yeah, because most libs wouldn't understand basic capitalism if you beat them over the head with an econ 101 book, and because the point is not medical breakthroughs and cures, just further dehumanization of people until we are looking at a Soylant Green world of rendering, abortion on demand and command, and euthanasia for boredom with life.

Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Differences between Obama and God: God's plan to save us is actually written down for people to read. Rush Limbaugh.

Really? In what way? There are zero approved treatments using material harvested from embryonic stem cells. There is one human clinical trial going on in the U.S. There are well over 50 approved treatments using non-embryonic stem cells being offered in the U.S. today.

As others have stated, Embryonic stem cells have yielded squat. The only thing they're useful for are idiot liberals who try to compare the banning of embryonic stem cells as being against science.

Personally, I think that abortion is a very sad and unfortunate event, but if there is an aborted fetus doesn't it make more sense to make lemonade out of lemons and use those stem cells to help cure diseases? Seems like a much better idea than just throwing these fetuses into the local dump.

Ok, so let's say they do end up turning results as other stem cells. What do you think's going to happen? There's going to be an increased demand for them.

Maybe the messiah is a stretch but he DID increase funding for scientific research in these areas. Is it so hard to give a little credit where it's due?

Bush increased NASA's budget and no one called him a messiah. Bush also increased funding for other scientific institutions such as the National Science Foundation and NOAA. And yet you libs like to attack every Republican for being anti-science regardless of what they do in that realm.